Artificial denture



June 25, 1963 c. F. H. MAILLAND 3,09 ,77

ARTIFICIAL DENTURE v Filed July 7, 1960 FIG-2 D .NMM a m A+ MM in F E MA L w u '0 United States Patent 3,094,778 ARTIFICIAL DENTURE ClaudeFrangois Hippolyte Mailland, Rue Paul Valry, Paris, France Filed July 7,1960, Ser. No. 41,319 Claims priority, application France Oct. 2, 1959 3Claims. (Cl. 32-5) This invention relates to dental prosthesis apparatusor dentures and has as its essential object a complete elimination ofhooks, and suction or other means which are presently indispensable forholding dentures in position on either the upper or the lower jaw.

It is known that teeth do not present a uniform cross section and inparticular the cross sectional area at the level of the neck of thetooth is smaller than that at the crown of the tooth. In other words, itmay be said that teeth do not constitute prismatic or cylindrical bodiesbut rather frustoconical bodies having their smaller base at the neck ofthe tooth.

Hence, in making a denture, if the latter is to be freely insertable toand removable from its prescribed position in the wearers mouth, suchdenture must be provided with spaces between the artificial teeththerein, large enough to permit the passing therethrough of the thickestportions of any teeth remaining in the wearers month. As a result, whena denture is put into place it cannot exactly conform to the shape ofthe necks of such remaining teeth and thus fill the existing interdentalspaces, and this explains why it is necessary to provide retainer meanssuch as hooks, suction devices or the like.

It is known furthermore that the outer surface of a normal gum is notaccurately uniform and smooth, but rather presents recesses, asperitiesand/or ridges, so that it is practically impossible when making adenture to provide the latter with artificial gums wherein the innersurfaces would conform accurately to the outer surfaces of the naturalgums, since if this were the case it would not only be impossible forthe artificial gums to overlie the natural gums, but it would also beimpossible to remove the denture.

As a result of the foregoing, it is not possible to take advantage ofthe unevenness in the natural shape of the teeth and the naturalconfiguration of the gums in order to retain a denture in position. Infact said unevenness prevents the making of dentures that wouldaccurately conform to the base of the teeth at the level of the neck ofthe tooth and the shape of the natural gums, and would thereby becapable of retaining their position without the assistance of retainermeans, the more usual of which comprise hooks encircling to a greater orsmaller degree the sound teeth remaining in the mouth and which serve assupporting posts or columns.

With the above in mind, the basic idea of the invention lies in the use,broadly, of any unevenness that may be present both in the shape of thenatural teeth and/or in the shape of the natural gums of the wearer inorder to ensure a perfect locking of a denture in position without theuse of hooks or similar devices.

Another object of the invention is the provision of dental prosthesisapparatus that may be placed in the mouth without requiring anyparticular adjustment.

Further features and advantages of the invention will stand out from theensuing description with reference to the accompanying drawing whichillustrates, schematically and by way of example only, two forms ofembodiment of the novel dental prosthesis apparatus or denture.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a denture for the upper iaw constructedaccording to a first embodiment of the invention.

3,094,778 Patented June 25, 1963 7 FIG. '2 is a transverse sectionalview of the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a larger-scale sectional View of a resilient connectingmember.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 illustrating a modified embodiment.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the denture includes a body1 of conventional shape conforming to the roof of the mouth and havingartificial teeth such as 2 secured thereto and further includingseparate parts 3 and 4 adapted to overlie outer surfaces of the portionsof the natural gums positioned immediately below the artificial teeth 2.The parts 3 and 4, instead of being formed integrally with the body 1,are provided in the form of two separate parts connected with said body1 through resilient members.

Each resilient member (see FIG. 3) includes a tube 5 imbedded within thebody 1 of the denture and having freely extending through it a rod 6imbedded at one end in the part 3 or 4 of the apparatus and threaded atits other end so as to be adapted to receive a nut 7 serving to seat,and adjust the tension of, a spring 8 surrounding said rod 6 and housedwithin the tube 5. The latter in turn is formed at or adjacent to itsinner end with a screw thread for the mounting of a sealing cap 9 which,when the apparatus has been completed, is positioned in bores such as 10drilled in the body 1 of the apparatus.

As a result of the mounting system just described, each of the parts 3and 4 is movable with respect to the denture body 1, and this allowseach of said parts to open out and thereby permit the insertion andremoval of the denture even though the inner face of each said partaccurately conforms with the outer face of the natural gum area which itis to overlie.

In constructing a denture according to the invention the followingprocedure is used. The denture, whether total or partial, is firstprepared in the conventional manner, but without the bums. The dentureblank thus made is placed back on its pattern or mould and the gum partis then fashioned so as to conform accurately with the shape of thenatural gum and the interdental spaces reproduced on said mould. Thetubes 5 were preliminarily secured to the body 1 of the denture and thescrew rods 6 secured to the parts 3- and 4 constituting the artificialgums. It then only remains to insert said rods into the correspondingtubes and then, after having positioned the springs 8, screw the nuts 7so as to obtain the desired compression of said springs. Finally thesealing caps 9 are screwed on and may if desired be then blocked bycoating them with cement or other compound completely to seal theopenings of the holes 10.

In the modified embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the portions 3 and 4 of thedenture are in turn constructed each in two parts namely a part 11 or 12integral with the denture body 13 provided with the artificial teeth 14,and an end or corner part 15 or 16 which is resiliently mounted andprepared as previously described.

Apart from the fact that the prosthesis apparatus of the invention canretain its position in the mouth without the use of hooks or othersecuring means, it has the further advantage that it may be insertedinto the month without any prior adjustment since the denture asdelivered from the prosthesis maker exactly reproduces all theconfigurations of the model or pattern produced from the moulding madeby the dental surgeon.

It will be understood that the denture was described and illustrated forpurely illustrative and not for restrictive purposes, and that variousmodifications may be made in the details of the forms of embodimentshown without exceeding the scope of the invention. Thus in particularin the case of a partial or total denture the resiliently mountedartificial gum portion may be more or less extensive, and may evencorrespond to the full extent of the gums.

What I claim is:

1. A denture comprising a main part including artificial teeth carriedthereby, at least one further part having a surface for overlaying anouter portion of a gum of the wearer, resilient means interconnectingsaid parts including at least one assembly comprising a tubular casingelement imbedded in one of said parts and a plunger element imbedded inand projecting from the other of said parts into said tubular c asingelement and slidable therein, and a spring in said casing element urgingsaid plunger element thereinto.

2. A denture as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plunger elementcomprises a rod projecting from said other part and a head adjustablyscrewed on the projecting end of said rod.

3. A denture as claimed in claim 1, wherein said casing element has oneend portion thereof imbedded in an aperture of said one par-t and has acap screwed over said imbedded end portion thereof for sealing thecasing element from the interior of the mouth.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,732,898 Krasnoff Oct. 22, 1929 1,7 32,899 Krasnoif Oct. 22, 1929FOREIGN PATENTS 81,256 Netherlands Apr. 16, 1956

1. A DENTURE COMPRISING A MAIN PART INCLUDING ARTIFICIAL TEETH CARRIEDTHEREBY, AT LEAST ONE FURTHER PART HAVING A SURFACE FOR OVERLAYING ANOUTER PORTION OF A GUM OF THE WEARER, RESILIENT MEANS INTERCONNECTINGSAID PARTS INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A TUBULAR CASINGELEMENT IMBEDDED IN ONE OF SAID PARTS AND A PLUNGER ELEMENT IMBEDDED INAND PROJECTING FROM THE OTHER OF SAID PARTS INTO SAID TUBULAR CASINGELEMENT AND SLIDABLE THEREIN, AND A SPRING IN SAID CASING ELEMENT URGINGSAID PLUNGER ELEMENT THEREINTO.